First Ribs Ever. Open to advice/suggestions.

BBQ_Greg · February 2013

No experience with ribs before the BGE. Today, cooked 6 slab! For a Newbie and a first try at ribs I'm pleased. And to be honest, I think I owe most of my success to the folks on this forum.

Used the "Basic Rub" from the BGE cookbook and set the BGE for indirect and broke out the two tier rack. I set a goal of maintaining a cook temp of between 210 and 225 and kind of "guessed" that 8 hours should take care of it (based on suggestions from the BGE Forum). I was anxious to see how well it would maintain heat since the high for the day was 10 degrees and the winds were a steady 19 mph with higher gusts.

Smoked with a combination of hickory and apple. Once I hit 225 the BGE did its job and maintained a near perfect temp for the first 6 hrs. of the cook, and then only dropped because I opened the lid for the first time to do a temp check.

When all was said and done most had a very nice bark. Everything had a great smoke ring. However, one rack on the lower level had a few spots that were undercooked on the under side.

After the ribs were pulled off I still had plenty of fire, especially for a low temp cook. So, I took about 30 oysters a friend gave me and opened them up. I put a "dab" of Roasted Garlic Butter (BGE cookbook) on each, topped with parmesan and Romano cheese. On about 5 I sprinkled with the BGE Basic Dry Rub and 5 others sprinkled very lightly with cayenne pepper.

Overall, I was very well pleased! The family ate well and they too were pleased as well.

I think next time I will cook fewer ribs so that I can avoid any tough bark (again, just a couple of spots where the meat hung over the gap between the plate setter and the fire box)

My question concerns trimming and prepping the ribs. These slabs of rib were HUGE. I trimmed lots of nice lean meat off (thinking of grinding and making sausage). So does anybody know of any good step by step YouTube videos on trimming ribs (found one on removing the membrane that was very helpful)?

bccomstock · February 2013

Looks like nice work! Congrats! I generally cook my ribs at 225 - 250 for about 6 hours total.. I'm surprised there were uncooked portions after 10 hours, especially on the lower rack.

BBQ_Greg · February 2013

I mislead a bit, they weren't uncooked or under cooked. They actuality got a bit too done in a couple of places. I had meat over the gaps between the plate setter and the grill. In effect I had a direct cook in those couple of places.

BBQ_Greg · February 2013

When all was said and done most had a very nice bark. Everything had a great smoke ring. However, one rack on the lower level had a few spots that were undercooked on the under side.

Should have read ". . .few spots that were OVERCOOKED on the under side." Big difference.

bccomstock · February 2013

Ok, that makes sense then..

TFols · February 2013

You can wrap the tips that hang over your PS with foil.
Can't help with the trimming..I've never done spares..only BB

gerhardk · February 2013

I saw a fellow on this forum wrap the parts of the grill that weren't protected by the platesetter's legs with foil and I have tried it when doing brisket and it works for me as well.

Gerhard

gdenby · February 2013

Great results for a first try. I was astonished at how much better my ribs were from the first on the Egg compared to earlier cookers. They will get better w.practice, and most likely, you will eventually get quite picky. Family and guest will be most pleased, but you will likely fuss over the quality of the bark, the bite and chewyness, etc. and etc. It'll be fun.

Here's a video that might help. There are other vids that are shorter, and more to the point, but the linked one takes it slow, and goes over various related topics.

After a few tries, trimming will take you all of maybe 3 minutes. I'm astonished that when the meat dept. guys at the local market open a cryovac bag, and do some trimming, the meat becomes .75 - 1.00/lb more than untrimmed.

First Ribs Ever. Open to advice/suggestions.

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